Boy, I'll tell ya, some people act like a skittish animal. As I mentioned before in this thread, JVC seems committed at making their projectors function properly. They have a proven track record at releasing firmware files to fix issues, especially related to the dynamic iris. I saw at least one person has cancelled their preorder due to what they thought was an issue that's already been fixed. Now he has to wait at the end of the line if he wants to get a new projector. All I can say is any projector when thrown under the microscope will show issues. Most of these microscopic issues cannot be detected with normal video content. Everyone calm down and take a deep breath, JVC will makes things right in the end like they always do. I see we're now getting a free lamp from this whole ordeal, so there's one positive thing to look forward to.
Are you in a position yet to fairly address how the NX9 compares to any of the recent JVC Projectors (RS4xx, RS5xx, RS6xx), in terms of overall "real-world" picture quality? Many of us have 'well-tuned' Projectors, using either the Panasonic UB-820, well-designed custom curves, or MadVR, etc., for HDR, and have pretty darn impressive pictures. So:If someone with a reasonably sharp and trained eye just walked in the room where the previous Projector was housed, and sees the new image, are they going to say, "Hmmm... I think this looks a little better than it usually does" or are they going to say "Holy crap, what the heck is going on here? - This looks amazing!!"??Similarly, what would be the likely reaction of that person's spouse, who isn't looking in terms of critical details, has no formal background, but can appreciate picture quality from an experiential level?If I'm going to be spending mega-bucks on an NX9, I would hope that the improvement on my modest, yet most impressive RS400, would be in the "holy crap" category, and not a 'yeah, I *think* that looks a little better.'
I would want the degree of improvement to be such that *anybody* would see an obvious difference, to justify spending that type of money! Hopefully with firmware fixes, and more units in people's homes, the answer will be more apparent.
This is an interesting topic that I think has a more complex answer than you want. Part of the issue is out of JVC's or Sony's hands. Ultimately it's the video content itself that can make or break image quality. At the moment I feel that most of the UHD blu-ray content doesn't have that "in your face" obvious uptick in image quality over the 1080p blu-ray counterpart. So in this sense, an eshift JVC projector will look much the same compared to these new native 4K units. It will probably only be the select few titles out at the moment that have a new remaster (which wasn't used for a 1080p blu-ray) that will show clear an obvious advantages over an older 1080p blu-ray release. I'd say there's probably a dozen or two titles out at the moment that will do this. Obviously this will get better over time. We saw the same thing happen to 1080p blu-ray. As the format matured we saw an exponential increase in general picture quality. The same thing is bound to happen to UHD Bluray.
Compared to my Cineversum Black Wing 2 (JVC RS520) the NX9 did not make me say "wow this is so much better than what I have at home", but it is a fantastic projector and it better be at that price. To me the price is simply stupidly expensive for a lamp based projector with only about 2000 lumens and I personally would never buy it for the asking price. To me it is way to small a difference and way to much money compared to what I already have. Other than that it is a fantastic projector and now it is even better after the 1.17 firmware is starting to be installed on the units.We will have a side by side with my Cineversum and Didriks NX9 in the near future and I will post my impressions here.
You have a fairly recent projector, so I'd say it's too soon to upgrade. Although I can't imagine you wouldn't see a difference with top tier 4K source material, and a somewhat less noisy picture with native 4K on the new projectors. It's different for folks with 5 - 10 year old projectors though. What is the MSRP where you are ( what country are you in ) ?
Of corse it will look better with real 4K material, but the difference will not be very big I think. I have tested several Sony 4K models against 1080p e-shift models and the difference is not very big when it comes to sharpness and clarity. The NX9 will be better than the Sonys for sure and I look forward to the side by side to see what I am missing. I will most likely buy the next gen, but then probably the N7 upgrade. I live in Norway and the MSRP in NOK equals about 22000$.
You certainly make a good point here: even with my RS400, some UHD's aren't especially impressive, while some HD's make me think it's UHD.Going from my RS400 to an NX9 would represent a move forward on several fronts (there are other differences, but these are the main ones, I think):True 4k Resolution vs eShiftDouble Aperture vs Single ApertureImproved Contrast (100,000 vs 40,000)Greater Light Output (2200 vs 1700 lumens)Tone Mapping vs Custom CurvesGreater Color Gamut with Filter useZ1 lens vs the 'regular' JVC 4xx/5xx/6xx lensSo my hope is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, so to speak, and that the net visual impact would be obvious to basically any observer.But how realistic this hope is, given how much I'm having to wager, is unclear.
Wait - in Norway an RS2000 / NX7 is the equivalent cost of $ 22,000.00 dollars US ?
No the NX9, the N7 is around 10000$.
I agree that with the right content being fed to the projector you're going to notice an upgrade over your RS400. Contrast and image sharpness should be the easiest thing to see between the two.